Counting tablets, Apple's share of worldwide PC shipments surpassed 20 percent for the first time ever during the last quarter of 2012, one research firm reported on Wednesday, with the iPad accounting for one in every six shipped computers.

Over year and a half after its initial launch, the Electronic Arts-backed Origin digital marketplace is finally coming to Mac, though initial buzz surrounding the alpha build's release will be tempered by Valve's decision to debut the 15-year-old classic "Half-Life" for Apple computers through the competing Steam service.

Apple on Wednesday released its earnings for the first quarter of the 2013 fiscal year, revealing a precipitous drop in both revenue and shipments for Macs, a sector that once made up the core of the company's business.

Apple's newly introduced iMac lineup is expected to dramatically boost the company's desktop shipments, which are forecast to be down 79 percent year-to-year for the third calendar quarter, according to one analyst's estimates.

Almost two years after Apple introduced FaceTime, Google and Microsoft are battling to introduce their own video chat acquisitions as new Internet web standards, while FaceTime remains proprietary to Apple.

Apple has spoken out in defense of its decision to remove its products from the EPEAT environmental rating program by noting that it takes a "comprehensive approach" to making environmentally-responsible products.

The U.S. Transportation Security Administration is set to initiate a pilot program to purchase up to $3 million dollars worth of Apple hardware over the next three years, including 1,000 Macs and 1,000 mobile devices.

Apple's latest iPad, originally anticipated to be named iPad 3 or iPad HD, was simply called "the new iPad" during its introduction. This isn't a new change in naming products at the company however; Steve Jobs initiated it 15 years ago when he returned to lead Apple in 1997.

Apple has surpassed HP in both computer unit sales and revenues for the first time, taking the top spot sooner than expected on record sales of iPads. Rather than losing sales to low priced tablets, Apple said it would "continue to innovate like crazy" in the tablet arena.

Apple is expected to rapidly deploy support for the new 802.11ac specification this year, adding so called "Gigabit WiFi" to new AirPort base stations, Time Capsule, Apple TV, notebooks and potentially its mobile devices.

Apple's fiscal Q4 iPad shipments in the September quarter were enough to propel the Mac maker into a near tie in unit sales with global PC maker HP. When Apple releases figures for the final quarter of 2011 later this month, it may become the world's largest PC maker.

Former Apple Chief Executive John Sculley has said in recent interviews that the late Steve Jobs was never fired from the company he helped found, an assertion that runs counter to Jobs' own public claims on the matter.

Apple didn't need to pay for a booth at the Las Vegas Consumer Electronics Show this week to make a big impression; the company's products and technologies were visible everywhere, from third party demos to its competitors' future roadmaps.

Apple climbed to third place among U.S. PC vendors in the fourth quarter of 2011 as the rest of the top five vendors saw shipments decline year over year as part of a worldwide contraction in the PC market, according to a new analysis.

For Apple, 2011 marked a year of incredible accomplishments, capping a decade of deftly executed strategies including the development of Mac OS X, ten years of the iPod and the ten year anniversary of Apple Retail stores. But the year was also marked with technological tragedy, from Steve Jobs' final struggle with cancer to the cataclysmic earthquakes and tsunamis in Japan and flooding in Thailand.